Category: short stories

Mar 31 2024

The Outrider

     [A short story for you today. Some “great events” are, in point of fact, merely resultants. They’re preceded by much smaller and less visible events that made them, if not inevitable, at least overwhelmingly likely. If there’s a great event to come, where should we look for the seemingly insignificant precursors that will precipitate …

Continue reading

Mar 27 2024

Constraints

     [A short story for you today. This one will be rather pointed, I fear. It was inspired by an essay I read about an hour ago. That piece, which I’ll link at the end of this one, harmonized so perfectly with my own convictions and the process by which I reached them that I …

Continue reading

Mar 13 2024

“How Did He Know?”

     This piece has evoked some amazing reactions, the majority of them imparted to me privately. Yes, all of them were from men. Quite frankly, what I thought I knew about my Gentle Readers falls short of the actuality. It seems that even among our sort, there’s a lot of romantic and para-romantic misery out …

Continue reading

Feb 26 2024

For Virginia With Hope

     [An old friend asked about this short story, and if I would please repost it. It first appeared at Liberty’s Torch V1.0 on December 18, 2019. I’ve made some slight edits since then. – FWP]      They had disdained the courtrooms, even though cleared of the pestilential scum that had roosted there. The aroma …

Continue reading

Dec 23 2023

The Bearer

     [I’d vacillated among subjects for a tirade much of the morning, when I realized that I’ve been drained of the verve required for the pursuit. So instead, have a short story from F. J. Dagg. It first appeared at Liberty’s Torch V1.0 in November of 2020.      James’s imagination seems to admit to no …

Continue reading

Nov 26 2023

The Third Decree

     [A very short story for you today. It has been said – by me, among others – that if you must have a government, the ideal would be a monarch absolutely committed to justice. For the only legitimate use of force against others is to effect the maintenance or restoration of justice. That’s why …

Continue reading

Oct 13 2023

Compare And Contrast

     The mysteries of the Future Columns folder continue to ramify. When there are a lot of entries in it, I have trouble selecting one to write about. But when there are only a few…I still have trouble selecting one to write about. Probably incipient Alzheimer’s Disease or something. What did you say my name …

Continue reading

Sep 22 2023

At The Djinn Mill

     [A short story for you today. I once asked a college class whether any of the students there had ever been interested in magic. One young woman raised her hand, somewhat timidly. I reassured her that there was no need to be embarrassed about it, for magic, if it really worked, would be a …

Continue reading

May 21 2023

The Strike

     [A short story for you, inspired by an observation from retired World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov. — FWP] ***      “We’re not getting anywhere,” Percy growled.      “Did you expect to?” I said. “I’d say that was rather the point.”      “But why? “Don’t they have as much to lose from this as the …

Continue reading

Apr 30 2023

A Change Of Scene

     [A short story for you today. A dear friend recently told me something I hadn’t expected to hear from her. It was a sad disclosure of a variety I’ve heard before, about a form of abuse the proudly pious often inflict upon those who haven’t yet received the gift of faith. I consider it …

Continue reading

Mar 26 2023

Demonstrator

     [A short story for you today. As it’s Passion Sunday, on which Catholics read from the Gospel of John about Jesus’s final miracle before He went to Jerusalem, I thought a related tale might be appropriate. – FWP. ***      The last of his perceptions dimmed and winked out. He found himself without sensation …

Continue reading

Mar 05 2023

The Gift Room

     [This is an excerpt from Priestesses, my erotic novel about two women who operate the most unusual retail enterprises on Earth. FWP] ***      Marilyn Cullinane set the box at the exact center of the sheet of wrapping paper and peered around all four sides for unevenness as carefully as if it mattered. With …

Continue reading

Feb 19 2023

Terminal Guidance

     [It seems a good moment to post a little fiction. I wrote the story below more than twenty years ago. It holds the dubious distinction of being my most-plagiarized piece. Despite the offense done to it — and to me — I’m still rather fond of it. — FWP] Terminal Guidance      Darius Culloden …

Continue reading

Feb 01 2023

Side Effect

     [It’s time for something light-hearted, as I’ve actually been depressing myself with the public-affairs commentary. So have a story about a young man who works at a quack-remedies mill who discovers something that actually works…and finds love in the bargain — FWP] ==<O>==      Harley Crandall is a Texan émigré and a businessman of …

Continue reading

Dec 26 2022

Appreciation And Gratitude

     It has been written, and truly, that among the things that make happiness possible, the greatest of all is gratitude. I’ve written about that several times here at Liberty’s Torch. But a free-floating, generalized state of gratitude is a difficult thing to create and sustain within oneself. It’s a lot easier to be grateful …

Continue reading

Dec 24 2022

Names

     [My Christmas story. Someone – apart from Joseph and Mary – had to be first on the scene. But who might that have been…and what did he take from being first to lay eyes on the Christ Child? – FWP] ***      Census has always been an irritant. There are many — I am …

Continue reading

Oct 05 2022

Placer Mine

     [A short story for you today. Max Feinberg needs a breather. His laundromat business is lucrative but boring. His marriage is sound but irritating. His body is slowly turning to sludge. So he’s headed to Las Vegas for some restorative gambling and professional sex. The bonus he’ll receive will exceed his imagination. It will …

Continue reading

Sep 29 2022

Overtime

     [I can’t remember if this has ever been posted, here or at Liberty’s Torch V1.0. It makes a point that deserves emphasis, and anyway, I have more to do today than will permit me to write another of those furshlugginer essays — FWP.] ==<O>==      “And now with the sports news,” intoned the anchor …

Continue reading

Aug 19 2022

To Know Them Is To Love Them…But Which Comes First?

     I haven’t done a piece on fiction writing for a while now, and as I’m struggling to get my wheels back on the track, it seems like a propitious moment for a reflection on one of the necessities of effective storytelling. ***      Readers have frequently complimented me on my efforts at characterization. While …

Continue reading

Jun 02 2022

Average

     [A short story for you today. I’ve been struggling to get my wheels back on the fiction track ever since I released The Discovery Phase, and it’s been chafing me. So after some extensive muttering to myself, I decided to return to shorter forms for a story or two, on the off-chance that it …

Continue reading

Load more